Bamboo

In the early 90s, the Yixing teapots industry has moved into a new phase. The state owned factories which produced mass market teapots were winding down, paving way for private factories. At that same time, many new teapot artists emerged with the passions and skills to push the Yixing teapot design and craftsmanship to a new artistic frontier.

Although my Yixing teapot collections focus mainly on Cultural Revolution period or earlier teapots, the newer artist teapots of late 80s to early 2000 attracted my interest due to their high quality of workmanship and artistic pursuit. Most of the artists’ teapots of that period are done in good Yixing clay and personally crafted by the artist.

One of my favourite Yixing teapot artists of that period is Xia Yimin (夏逸民). He was born in 1962, a native from Jiangsu province. Xia Yimin specialises in bamboo theme teapots. The clay he uses is Yixing clay (宜兴泥), consisting mainly of Duanni (鍛泥), Hongni (红泥 ) and Zisha (紫砂 ).

Although his rank is merely Assistant Craft Artist (助理工艺美术师), his level of craftsmanship exceeded many senior artists’ or even masters’ works. Xia Yimin has held many exhibitions internationally and won several awards.

His teapots are currently sought after by many Yixing teapots collectors from all over the world based on its high level of artistic pursuit. Due to the intensive works required to put into the high level of craftsmanship and astounding level of detailing, his teapots are rarely available. I acquired some of his teapots when I was travelling in Hong Kong and China, which I will post separately in future.

The photos in this article show the teapot bought in Singapore during his solo exhibition in 2006.

Back view. The red patina on the duanni teapot is surface-applied hongni to emulate the natural appearance of the bamboo. This teapot capacity is around 90ml/3oz.Bottom front viewBottom back view. Very intricate details of the bamboo roots formation.Matching tea cups in bamboo theme.